31 January 2016

A live cow had been dragged from a truck to a nearby army helicopter. I got spotted and had to delete the picture. Luckily the camera didn’t get smashed nor did I. Lucky also the camera is a bit slow in the deleting process so the soldier managed to decipher “deleted” on the back screen and luckily didn’t wait long enough. Unfortunately the good picture with the cow being loaded in the helicopter was deleted…

Slow Mi8 in flight. A good thing about South Sudan, normal passengers never complain about the flights. So flying briefly formation with this Mi8 didn’t raise eyebrows. With tourists, guaranteed I’d have the usual moaner…

The beast, the Mi 26

My hotel was just aligned with the runway path. Here an Antonov 32. Damocles sword aviation style. All those overloaded planes, mostly Russian made. But not only… A little problem could end in tragedy.

By then my colleagues were from Armenia, Ukraine, Russia, and other satellite countries (well you get the picture). I only flew the American made Caravan in the company.

French registered aircraft flying for a national company. The nice painted tail didn’t last, the government had it removed soon after. The painting is too close to the national flag. No competition allowed.

An Ilyushin 76 is taking off.

A great Buffalo. A real big bush plane, like the one below, the Hercules C130.

14 January 2016

Flying along the Rufiji river and its numerous side rivers and ponds is an amazing experience, well for those you can appreciate. I have spotted artists who had taken fascinating selfies while boarding the airplanes but didn’t shoot anything while in the air…

02 January 2016

Just one little flight, 40 minutes, from Mafia Island to the Selous reserve.

Notice the fisherman village on the edge of the forest.

Here is a sail boat on the Rufiji river.

The Selous in the north is crossed by the Rufiji. This area between Stiegler’s Gorge and Mtemere is quite flat and sandy so the river’s arms and ponds change quite a lot when the rains show up. Here are 2 ponds which were dry and quite colorless 2 weeks ago.

31 December 2015

A common scenery along the ocean, young men jump off the pier in style.

They jump from this kind of wall, where the water is a bit deeper.

Things change in Zanzibar, less women are veiled than let’s say 10 years ago. Amongst the ones who are veiled, they’re often fond of bright colors, or sometimes I have witnessed women temporarily discarding the veil as soon as they were away from home (or from for 4 ugly Bin Laden lookalikes after security checks at airport, she was my only passenger and quite hot looking suddenly). Young couples are westernised and seem more relaxed in public.

The beach is still male territory though…with one notable exception that evening. This is a forst time for me to spot a girl in Stonetown in a swimming attire. Nobody seemed to mind. Maybe she is a pioneer.

Colors and make up, small rebellious signs?

Another rarity were these 2 black tourists. An extremely rare sighting. The local romeaos had been quick to spot them and hang around.

30 December 2015

Yes I know I love these posts about a stunning spot shot in so many minutes, whether it is the lake Natron or lake Eyasi or today the Selous. But the diversity in such areas is so phenomenal that I love the exercise.

These pictures were shot between Sumbazi and Mtemere along the Rufiji river on one flight.

Before landing at Mtemere.

The same buffaloes on the right hand side, the clouds can move fast.

A pond and the river, the water colors don’t match.

This rainy season was not excessive, far from it. The water level has gone down, and some water puddles are momentarily visible on sand banks which have been submerged for a few weeks.

Some trees survive the floods every year, other don’t. Those white dead trees are quite common along the river.

13 August 2015

National Day in France, there was a military show at the “Invalides”. Kids were having a blast, they were allowed to climb in various vehicles, talk to armed forces professionals.

Well not only kids had a good time… This man is a “Spahi”, from a unit fitted for the desert, hence the sable cape. It refers to the times when the vehicles were horses or camels. The cape would hide a lot then.

A “Chasseur Alpin”, an alpine unit.

“Les Invalides” built by Napoleon to welcome the wounded soldiers.

A pilot must be multi tasked. Talking to a crowd is not my favorite part of the job.

20 June 2015

That mama in blue was giving orders to these soldiers. She must have been a wife of one the 941 generals in South Sudan. Yes 941! That’s more than all the US forces combined. For a country of 12 millions (and decreasing), that’s quite a feat. 941 generals, that’s the cost for a lame president who is struggling to get respect and stay in power: pay and bombard them with decorations and honors. I wonder how many have been properly attending a real military school…

One of the 941…

My cargo one day: one ton of biscuits.

Those funny ladies are regularly seen, clutching that kind of cross like if it a life saver.

My lunch one day, onions and fried locusts doused with a Coke, or a fake one, I’m not sure. It tasted normal but I’m not an expert.

04 April 2015

25 March 2015

The caption says “4 wheels and 1 umbrella”, that was the logo when the car was presented to the public 60 or so years ago. That summed up the car quite well. I used to have a 2CV like this model, a red one. I miss it, especially in Arusha where I live. It would be perfect on the bumpy roads.